The Toronto Seoulcialite: Wicked Spoon

Update - another one bites the dust. Wicked Spoon is now a seafood restaurant. The ball pit still exists.

Wicked Spoon (formerly Wicked Snow) is a great spot with nice decor in the heart of Hwamyeong. We've checked it out a few times for their Bing-su, but realistically I've been more impressed with their pasta. Whenever I have a big craving this seems to hit the spot.

Directions: Head out of Hwamyeong Subway Station Exit 1. Walk straight to the major intersection and continue by crossing the street. Take a quick right, walk one block, turn left, and just beyond the Davichi Eyewear and before Latte King you'll see an entry to the officetel. Wicked Spoon is on the 2nd floor.

This is a chicken and bacon spaghetti with a cream sauce that has the tiniest bit of heat. Lots of peppers and onions in this bad boy, it's great to share with a friend when you want to be a little less decadent. KRW 13,000 We had planned on being healthier by also getting the Santa Fe Chicken Salad:

...our salad was chicken fingers. Neither of us was about to complain! This "salad" of lightly panko-crusted chicken covered in honey mustard sauce topped with hard-boiled eggs, a little lettuce, and a few cherry tomatoes was KRW 13,000.

This is my favourite dish: a spicy bulgogi spaghetti with a gochujang cream sauce, hot peppers, mushrooms, and onions. If you like heat then this is the option for you! It's KRW 13,000 and was worth every penny.

We had a girls night and ordered 2 bing-su for 6 of us. The chocolate cheesecake was my favourite - chocolate bing-su is the real deal! Remember chocolate popsicles? Imagine those with cheesecake bites with oreo on the bottom and vanilla ice cream on top. Amazing. The mango is really tasty too, but I'm a chocolate gal at heart. Bing-su ranges anywhere from KRW 8,000 - KRW 13,000 but these were both KRW 10,500.

While we were eating the bing-su, some fried chicken showed up - service! For those of you who don't know, "service" is on the house. The owner/ manager at Wicked Spoon is so friendly and speaks English so we were happily surprised when this fried chicken dish arrived. It came with honey mustard and sweet chili sauces, a small salad, and fries. The fried chicken itself was really moist and tasty. I would definitely return for it down the line!

...and just a reminder, Mom, this is what I eat at practically every meal at home: scrambled eggs, peppers, broccoli mixed greens, and colby jack. Just a little reminder that while it would be just as frugal to eat out every night at one of the many inexpensive places in Hwamyeong, I really don't know what is going into my meals unless I make them myself.

Have you been to Wicked Spoon yet? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

I have always been the type of person to think that your birthday is just one day. I mean, it's the DAY of your birth that's to be celebrated - not the weekend, week, or month. It turns out that my friends are amazing and know how to make an entire week better than I could have ever anticipated. Be forewarned: there are a lot of pictures and quite frankly a lot of them are of me. It was my birthday and dammit these incredible people made me smile brighter than I have in years, and helped soften the blow of missing my family and besties at home.

It started out when everyone had returned from our various Japanese summer vacations. G had been in Ishigaki - a sub-tropical paradise where she had gone diving, been to a music festival on the beach, and been practically adopted by a beautiful Japanese family (we actually had a magnificent evening with a wonderful Japanese family in Osaka too, but more on that when I post about my last day in O-town). We were supposed to meet after my friends finished up band practice but that ended early and I raced over to the loft to catch up with friends I had been missing an incredible amount even though I had been gone just a few days. I know, I'm a sap.

I mean, do my friends know me well, or what? Wednesday night they had sparkling wine at the ready for midnight when I officially turned...well...the age I turned. I think that this is the first birthday where I'm suddenly starting to feel older. I'm not quite almost 30, but I'm not not almost 30 and quite frankly that's a little scary for me. If this feeling could be shared I would tell everyone thinking about teaching abroad to do it and do it early and as young as you can. I want to take advantage of all the opportunities being silver spoon-fed to me, but I also want to return to Canada and settle down before it's "too late". Dear everyone older than me: it's advice time now - do I stay in Asia past 30? How soon do your eggs truly start to nosedive ('cause I'm holding out as long as possible). Dear potential suitors reading this: yes - we're all that nuts sometimes (and I bet you are too). Even the most adventurous lady in your life still has those questioning moments of: "am I doing the right thing?". I can't imagine ever regretting seeing the world, but I'm allergic to cats and being alone. End rant. Drop Mic.

Thankfully, I have these girls to keep me halfway sane (or who are at least on my level :P) and who are the soundtrack to my life by playing Far East Movement at every "poppin' bottles" moment, and who let me try to rap. The videos are in the vault, ladies.

Thursday was my official birthday, and in addition to some beautiful cards from my students (one card from a particular favourite that includes the phrases: "Happy Your Birthday" - on the official card, not handwritten, "I love you", "I'm so so happy. Don't lose your smile", and "I RESPECT YOU!") my colleague made some seaweed soup as it's supposed to bring you good health in the coming year. I mean, how lucky am I already? Hold onto your hats...it gets even better.

We had wanted to check out 88 Star Wars, the new spot in Hwamyeong. Turns out it's a restaurant that didn't look all that frugal, so we headed over to our typical Buk-gu haunt: Monster Craft Brewing (we go there a lot so check it out here and here). This place feels like the living room I've always wanted: there's our friendly owner/ chef who serves up cheap beer ($3 for a house pint) and the best chicken I have ever had. I'm not kidding - I'm probably their #1 fan.

I had met up with G who BOUGHT ME A CAKE and then M and S joined up a bit later once we mentioned the venue switch.

The chocolatiest of chocolate cakes was shared with 2 other tables who sang me happy birthday (Saeng-il-chuka-hamnida) and engaged in polite conversation (ie. the Korean men wanted to know how old I was. I gave them my western age rather than Korean age because obviously).

Could life be any more decadent or wonderful? Well yes, in fact...it turns out that beyond all my already exceeded expectations, it most certainly was!

Saturday G and I decided that rather than heading down to the beach or the pool we would get some housework and errands done and then treat ourselves to lunch. We ordered a pasta and a salad to share because we were being both indulgent and heart-healthy.

Nope. That's an absolute lie. Our salad from Wicked Spoon was actually delicious chicken fingers with hard boiled egg, a little bit of iceberg lettuce, a TON of honey mustard sauce, and a garnish of 2 cherry tomatoes sliced in half. I did not complain. Our spicy cream pasta was less spice more cream but had a delightful array of peppers and bacon and I'm all about that life.

Then we found G's roof. Some sweet rays and sun salutations later? Pure bliss...followed by The Office in air-conditioned comfort.

I'm so lucky to have friends from Masan to Daegu willing to come into Busan (and even Hwamyeong!) to visit. My wonderful, hilarious gentlemen from the Air Force even brought me a little taste from home (Tito's Handmade Vodka) from the base. We had some cocktails and pizza (and even a visit from adorable little Oscar, K's pup!) before heading back up to G's roof to watch the sunset.

Once darkness fell we all jumped into cabs and headed down to Gwangalli Beach for our very own Midnight Garden Party (literally it was so hot our group of 15 people had the place for ourselves!). I'll leave you quite simply with some photos because the stories? You just wouldn't believe 'em...